Paint Him The Color Of Death
by Pretty Shimmie
Summary: AU. Kankuro is a delinquent orphan who lives with his siblings in Konoha. A junior in high school, he lives for thrills. But things eventually get out of hand, for everyone. Can he deal with everyone's problems, or can he even face his own?
1. Prologue

Konoha's Orphanage for the Young and Homeless is probably the worst place you can go whenever your parents die and someone has to take care of you. The food is terrible, the staff is horrible, the atmosphere is not as appealing as it should be, and the beds suck ass.

I would know; I've lived there since I was only one year old.

But despite all of these...drawbacks...I think that KOYH could also be the best. So the living environment would flunk any health inspector's test. That makes all of the kids stick together. I've made such close friends with the other kids there, that if I got a dollar for every friend I've ever had, I'd be out of KOYH in no time.

Although it may not be as easy for some as it is for me.

For instance, my sister has the worst attitude problem EVER. She's a real bitch. My sister's only seventeen and has beaten up just about every cheerleader at our school, put green dye in our school's swimming pool, made fun of every nerd, gotten into a new fight every day, never survived a day without detention, dumped every good-looking guy she can find, and loves to smash the band equipment against the wall.

But she's the oldest out of my little brother and I, and she does take care of us. (In a weird, twisted, demented way.)

And for another instance, my brother is a FREAK. He's a real bastard. My brother's only fifteen and he smokes crack, is addicted to heroin, loves to wipe out on his skateboard, inhales deeply whenever he graffities train cars, wants to dye his hair black, dye his clothes blood red, he wears black eyeliner, hates social contact, wants a tattoo whenever he can get the money, and he's seen over fifteen psychiatrists.

But he's still my baby brother. (Also, in a weird, twisted, demented way.)

As for me, I don't do that stuff. (Some of the time...) Sure, I helped my sister by giving her the green dye, and maybe I did just give my brother the spray-paint, but I'm still a nice guy!

I'm an artist. A musician. I love poetry. I crave the feeling of clay in your hands as you mold it into something beautiful. Even though I also wear black eyeliner (and draw on my face with it), I am addicted to watching people dance. Not dirty dancing, though. Ballet. Pointe. Jazz. Hell, I even watch tap if there's nothing else!

So my sister's a bitch who'll probably get laid by the time she's nineteen, my brother's a cold-hearted freak who'll most likely kill himself from too many drugs, and I'm an artist on the inside and a troublemaking bastard on the outside. What did you expect?

Oh, by the way, my sister and brother are Temari and Gaara. As for me, my name is Kankuro. Sabaku Kankuro.


	2. Welcome to High School

I hungrily wolfed down the rest of my bowl of moldy cereal and I bolted out of the rusty kitchen door. Today was the first day of school, and I couldn't be late.

Why?

Because I didn't know my schedule. What if I had art for first period? (No matter how much that would suck...) Yeah, I love art too much to fork it up.

On the overgrown sidewalk, I was soon joined by my sister and brother, and their friends TenTen and Uzumaki Naruto.

TenTen and Temari are like blood relatives. They've known each other since our family first came here. (TenTen was already at KOYH because she was abandoned at birth. The only clue she has to her family was a piece of tape that was tied around her wrist. 10x2 was written on it.)

It also happens that TenTen is the only one who can tell when Temari needs space. (I sure as hell don't...!) The two couldn't be any closer.

As for Gaara, he and Naruto are a strange pair. They're complete opposites, but the best of friends.

Personally, I think it's because they're both addicted to crack and heroin, but that's just my opinion.

We all wore our school uniform, but with a band t-shirt over it and other minor adjustments.

Temari's skirt was rolled up very high, TenTen had pushed her sleeves up to her elbows, Gaara had dyed his uniform red, and Naruto...well...he's a very short boy, so he had to roll up the pants. I had cut my sleeves.

In addition to the snipping of my uniform, I wore a black hat over my shaggy strawberry blonde hair.

You see, I'm VERY self-conscious about my looks. It may not seem like it, but I am. So, the less people see of the real me, the better off they'll be. That's my motto!

Gaara and Naruto immediately immersed themselves in conversations about affording drugs or if they had to buy pixie sticks again, while Temari and TenTen were acting 'ghetto'. As I was feeling alone, I stepped ahead of everyone else so I could get to the assembly on time.

On the first day of school, all of the classes are shortened because there is an hour-long assembly where each grade gets their schedules and shit like that. It's a very tedious process.

"Hello Kankuro," a shy voice said from my left.

"Oh hey Lee," I replied with a smile.

Rock Lee is my best friend, despite the fact that he is the biggest nerd ever. He has spiky black hair and very thick, black glasses. He wears the uniform every day because he only has two other pairs of clothes.

And the poor guy, he gets teased by everyone a lot, especially Temari.

Lee is an orphan too.

"Man, I hope I got art!" I whined quietly. Lee gave me a slightly humored look. "What are you talking about? You're the best artist our school has."

I smiled beneath my mask of eyeliner.

You see, only Lee and TenTen know about my art skills. Gaara wouldn't care even if he did know, but Temari...She thinks that art is for sissies. For the weak-minded. So, Temari'd only tease me about it.

But even Lee and TenTen don't know about my greatest creation ever.

This year, I'm going to make a puppet.

* * *

Our group split off into grades as we headed to our separate assemblies.

Temari walked the solo road to Senior Hall, Gaara and Naruto sauntered off to the Gym for Sophomore Assembly, and Lee, TenTen, and I went into the cafeteria.

Lee was quietly chatting with TenTen and I just stared into space, half-heartedly listening to their conversation.

I think TenTen was complaining about that he needed to get a job so that he could get the contacts that he so desperately wanted.

TenTen has two jobs, and only known to me, she's saving up her money so that she can buy Lee a pair of contacts for his birthday. (She would never tell Temari about that, because Temari would just laugh at her.)

And only known to me, in Lee's case, he has a major crush on TenTen.

So the three of us rely on each other. We're the winsome threesome of KOYH!

"Well look who it is," a smarmy voice said from behind me. "The terrible trio of KOYH, back again for another year."

TenTen turned and glared at the figure, while Lee winced and bowed his head.

I simply rolled my eyes and rested my feet on the table.

"Put a dick in it," I yawned.

TenTen smirked, her two buns rustling with her movements.

I had to admit, TenTen was really hot. Lee didn't have that bad a taste.

I've even dated her once before, but we both decided it didn't work out. She had an obsession over shiny things, and I craved blood. (Hey, I was a freshman!)

"Same for you," he said behind me.

She stood up and, her chocolate eyes sparkling, said, "Well Hyuuga, if you're just going to make fun of us, try and do it with style. Because this attempt is just sad."

TenTen flicked a paper wad at him, and it hit Neji square in the forehead.

I think he smirked, and he said, "Your aim has improved."

Her smile faded into a pompous pout. "I wish I could say the same about yours."

She sat down again and looked away from Hyuuga Neji. That meant she was done with him, and Neji knew that. He left us just as our vice principal strode up to the podium.

* * *

Lee, TenTen, and I all stood in the 'R, S, T' line to get our schedules. (Rock Lee, Sabaku Kankuro, and TenTen.) As a plus, it was far away from the 'H' line. Lee and TenTen had praised whatever gods that blessed us with this miracle since middle school.

"Man, I hate that bastard," TenTen muttered to herself.

We all glanced over to him.

He was surrounded by admiring girls, and occasionally his stoic expression would fade into a small smirk, and his fangirls would swoon. I choked on my saliva. "Did he just smirk at you?" I turned to TenTen.

Her eyes were narrowed dangerously, her fists were clenched, her face was rapidly changing colors from light beige to bright red, and she was so steamed that I could see veins popping out of her forehead.

"Egotistical freak!" she raved. "Well, what do you expect?" I told her. "He'll try to woe anything with a hole beneath the belt. Sabaku Kankuro." The lady at the desk flipped through her list of names and handed me my schedule.

TenTen and Lee followed suit, and we met up at our table.

"I remember I used to have a crush on him when I was 13..." she said with a sigh.

Lee smiled and spoke up. "I remember that! You would practically stalk him just so you could smell his hair." I glanced up from my schedule and laughed. "TENTEN did that? Now that's a shock!"

TenTen's head fell on the table. "But then he found out, and he's never left me alone since. I hate him so much!"

Lee patted her back comfortingly. "It's alright. There are millions of other guys out there who are so much better than him." I gave him a knowing smile.

"Shoot!" I said. They both looked over at me. "What's wrong?" TenTen asked.

"I smiled too wide. My eyeliner's cracking," I said I grabbed a mirror from Lee's backpack to redo my 'makeup'.

TenTen rolled her eyes as the bell rand to dismiss us from the assembly.

* * *

Lee's first class was AP Biology and TenTen's was English.

My first class was art.

I swear, the principal hates me. I've been on Tsunande's list ever since the green dye just happened to go missing and end up in the pool.

I walked into the room and was greeted with the familiar scent of turpentine, paper, mildewy art supplies, and paint. God I loved art.

"Now kids," the art teacher said. "I already gave you assigned seats." I, along with many others, groaned. "But don't worry. You'll get used to it."

Our names were written on notecards that had been placed on paint-covered desks. I quickly found mine in the back corner of the room. The boy in front of me was a freshman; I could tell.

He nervously sat down and stared straight ahead at our dickhead of a teacher. His hair was black, and he was fairly short for someone his age. He did have a fit body, so I assumed he played sports. I noticed numerous cuts and bruises dotting his neck and hands. Yup. He was active enough. I saw Konohamaru written on his notecard.

Other people I knew were scattered across the room, but there was no one I liked. They definitely didn't like me.

I looked over as my neighbor sat next to me.

It was a girl. She had shiny black hair that fell about an inch below her shoulders, and it was held in two braids. Her eyes, from what I could tell, were an icy blue, and her skin was remarkably pale. She was very tall; I guessed about 5' 9" or 5' 10". Hm. Only a few inches shorter than me. Although I knew she was thin, I couldn't tell her body physique from under her baggy uniform.

She glanced over at me and smiled softly. I blinked. Her eyes were VERY blue...


	3. Little Green Leaf

"Hello," she said shyly.

"Uh...hi..." I stupidly replied.

She smiled a little wider, making her eyes curve up with a slight crinkle. The teacher cleared his throat and we all looked towards the front. "My name is Tamashi-sensei, and I'll be your teacher this year for art."

I couldn't help but mutter, "Nah, you think?" The rest of the class laughed, except for the girl next to me. She just raised an eyebrow in my direction.

I shuddered inwardly.

Her eyes were really starting to creep me out.

Tamashi-sensei eyeballed me in my little corner. "Let's see..." He pulled out a clipboard and ran his finger down it. "Ah yes, Sabaku Kankuro. Why did I know I was going to hate this class?"

I grinned.

"Because I'm in it, that's why," I stated proudly.

He rolled his eyes. "Kids, you'll find a pad of paper in your desks. I'll call roll, and you may begin to draw whatever you want." I ripped out some paper and a pencil and started to plan, as an artist must.

This was going to be the map for my puppet.

Tamashi-sensei was calling names out, and my classmates would answer with, "Here", or "Present." I rolled my eyes. Such amateurs. They could be so boring sometimes.

"Takahashi Rikku."

The girl next to me raised her hand like everyone else and said in a voice reminded me of Hyuuga's cousin, "Um, your fly's unzipped." We all tried to hold back laughter as he hurriedly turned around to fix his zipper.

So her name was Rikku. She wasn't that bad.

"S-Sabaku Kankuro."

"I gotta pee."

They all laughed at me then. Ah, the joys of being humorous. It's such a fabulous thing. Rikku smiled softly again.

I looked to her. No one smiled at me if they knew me, except for Naruto, Lee, and TenTen.

"You're not from here, are you Takahashi?" She shook her head. "Um, I just transferred here from Taki. You can call me Rikku." I raised my painted eyebrows. "You used to be a Waterfall?" She laughed lightly and nodded.

I pointed a finger at her. "Well now you're a Little Green Leaf, so be prepared. Don't tell anyone that you're from Taki. They'll rip you to shreds."

"But Sabaku, I told you," she quickly countered. I narrowed my eyes and scolded her. "Don't get smart with me, Rikku."

Rikku laughed, her eyes closing all of the way.

Although her eyes were kinda creepy, her smile was kinda...cute.

"By the way, call me Kankuro."

* * *

"Damn it guys, when'd we get so effing popular?" I asked as I sat down at the lunch table, Rikku right next to me. Gaara, Naruto, TenTen, Lee, and two unfamiliar girls all sat in an assorted mix.

Lee pointed to the new girls. "These are my new friends Ying Kumiko and Suzuki."

Kumiko had long, mahogany-colored hair and golden skin. Her freckled face was very happy, and she wore large black sunglasses. Suzuki was taller and paler than her sister, and sported light brown hair and grey eyes.

I brought my hand up to acknowledge them. TenTen waved to Rikku.

"Hi, I'm TenTen," she said. "What's your name?"

Rikku smiled shyly and I noticed that she scooted a little closer to me. "Um...I'm...uh...my name's Rikku..." I glanced at her and gave her a questioning glance.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly in fear and she gave me a small shrug.

Well, Rikku wasn't this shy around me, and I can guarantee that I look ten times more freaky then TenTen.

I grinned and said, "Little Green Leaf's just a bit shy, especially around dorks."

Lee made a noise of protestation, and I laughed at him. "Or, maybe it's freaks. I don't know the difference."

Naruto giggled as he pointed at Gaara with a gleeful face.

My little brother rolled his void green eyes and brushed some of his strawberry blonde hair out of them. "If that's the case, then she would have been scared off long ago," was his bone-chilling reply.

Naruto laughed harder, along with TenTen, Lee, and Suzuki.

I narrowed my eyes. "Now that's uncalled for," I said.

Rikku had busied herself by unsurely poking the food she had been given. "Is this stuff edible?" she asked. Suzuki followed suit. "Yeah, it looks...wrong."

TenTen pulled a salt shaker out from underneath the table and sprinkled both of their trays with the sodium. "There, that should kill the bacteria."

Suzuki and Rikku's eyes went enormously wide. "Bacteria?"

I nodded solemnly. "Yes, it's a horrible thing. Killing bacteria is so wrong." "You would know," Gaara said coldly. "You ARE bacteria."

Even Rikku laughed as my face clenched up in anger.

* * *

I groaned as Temari was talking non-stop about her new boyfriend, who she was probably going to dump tomorrow anyways.

My room was one of the smaller ones in KOYH, but I liked it that way.

It was mainly made up of a wooden floor, tall wood cabinets in each corner and on the wall across from the door, two beds parallel from each other, and one large window.

You see, I was lucky enough to get my bed, which was attached to the wall, right up against the window, while Gaara had darkness.

But you know, I think he preferred it that way.

I was lying in the middle of my room, on top of the ugly wool rug, trying to create my puppet's basic idea. Although, that can be a bit difficult when your older sister is spouting out her God-forsaken stupid problems.

"And there's this new bitch of a cheerleader, her name is Takahashi Amaya, and damn! She gets on my last freaking nerves! She was trying to flirt with Yusuke, but everyone knew that I was dating him, and she just barged right in there and asked him for his number! Can you believe it! Ergh!"

"So why don't you just beat her up?" I asked lazily, not looking up from my puppet models.

Temari shook her head. "I was already planning on that! She's a Taki girl anyways...she deserves it..." My head shot up and I stared at my sister. "And you said her last name was Takahashi?"

My sister nodded.

Was...this 'bitch' related to Rikku?

* * *

Perhaps you would like me to fill you in on everything? After all, it is the second chapter. (Did you not read the first chapter title? PROLOGUE!) Well I'll tell you.

You must have figured out that I am the fabulous yet underappreciated Sabaku Kankuro.

I'm sixteen years old, and I have shaggy strawberry blonde hair and dark eyes. (I swear, my eyes are bigger in real life than they are on TV. It's one of those 'camera adds ten pounds' types of things.)

You are in my head. This is how I saw things at that moment, and although I know exactly how THIS story ends, I'm afraid you won't until you read it all.

Some very interesting things happened then, like Temari's life-shattering shock, Gaara's deadly overdose, my horrible exposure; TenTen's alarming secret, Lee's hidden obsession, and much, much more!

Interested? Great!

You'll just have to read all the way through. It will make more sense that way. But I will tell you this: Neji plays a bigger part than I will let on. Remember that.

Oh, by the way, I don't see everything that goes on in my friends' lives, but you will hear about them. I promise!

There will be a few more of these screencuts later on so I can sort of explain things. This was sort of an introduction.

But instead of going back to the story, you get to go straight to the credits! Sort of...

* * *

So now you know a little about my take on Kankuro. I'm sorry that I'm not perfect, so if you have a complaint, please feel free to tell me.

I really hope you'll all like this story, even though I sadly have no reviews. Oh well. I didn't expect that many anyways.

But I do have a question. I want to know your favorite character! It's a little poll, and I'll have the results posted at the last chapter to show you who won! (I won't have all of the characters up, so it's your favorite from this list.)

Naruto

Sakura

Sasuke

Kakashi

Iruka

Tsunande

Jiraiya

Orochimaru (Yes, I have to have him.)

Kiba

Hinata

Shino

Kurenai

Chouji

Ino

Shikamaru

Asuma

Lee

TenTen

Neji

Gai

Kankuro

Temari

Gaara

Itachi

Konohamaru

Kabuto

And of course, AKAMARU! (You'd better vote for him! No, just kidding.)

So I'm eager to see how many people will do this. PLEASE DO IT AND REVIEW!

I love you.


	4. Cloudy Night

Temari scoffed and said, "Jeez Kankuro, why don't you ever talk back? It's so damn annoying!"

I rolled my eyes as she left my room in a huff.

As soon as she had gone, Gaara and Naruto poked their heads in. "Did she leave?" Naruto asked in a hushed tone. I nodded as I shaded in the puppet's hair.

Naruto heaved himself onto Gaara's bed, and squealed as the bed creaked from underneath his weight. Gaara merely followed and sat down. "Hey Kuro, didja hear about the school dance?"

I looked up, puzzlement written all over my face. "School dance? Since when have we had a damn school dance?"

Naruto nodded as he downed a red Pixie Stix. "Yeah! You remember Hinata? She's in my homeroom, and she said that the teachers were gonna try to FORCE us to make some retarded dance."

I frowned. "But we already freaking have prom and homecoming! Shouldn't that be enough?"

Gaara shook his head. "No. Other schools have up to seven dances a year."

Rolling my eyes, I muttered, "But no one from other schools comes to our dances."

Naruto raised his eyebrows in excitement. "No! I've seen more and more people from Sand and Sound sneak in!"

My head twitched. When I was in elementary school, my siblings and I had gone to Sand.

"And Kiba said that Sound's creepy principal Orochimaru even ENCOURAGES them to sneak in!"

Gaara gave Naruto a confused look. "Who's Kiba?"

"Oh, just a guy in our class. He's the other really loud one who you nearly killed," Naruto shrugged. "But don't worry, my little Gaa! He won't interfere between us!"

"What 'us' are you talking about?"

"You know, US!"

I laughed as Naruto tried to enclose my little brother in a tight embrace. Although that can be a bit difficult when Gaara is pouring sand on you from an open gourd.

There's a little story behind that gourd.

In elementary school, Gaara had this teacher named Yashamaru who he loved like crazy. One chilly day in October, Yashamaru told everyone that they could get a gourd from the pumpkin patch that they had a field trip to. Gaara got this beige gourd, but he accidentally broke the stem off.

As he cried, Yashamaru carved the stem down into a type of cork and stuffed it back in the hole. "There," Yashamaru said. "You can put anything you want in there." So Gaara put some of the playground's sand into it. (Sadly, Yashamaru died in the middle of the year from a bullet to the head.)

I laughed at their joke.

You see, some people think that Gaara and Naruto are gay. They couldn't be straighter, but they still pretend (or at least Naruto pretends) that they are homosexual. It's quite entertaining.

Naruto spit some sand out from his mouth and ran his hand over his tongue.

"Growwy!" he moaned. (Naruto-trying-to-get-something-off-of-his-tongue language for grody.)

Gaara looked out of my window. "I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," he said with a creepy sigh.

Dark, billowing clouds had encroached across the happy, light blue sky. I closed my window after taking a whiff of the air. It was practically exploding with humidity.

Gaara is deathly afraid of water. I'm not sure why though...

* * *

I woke with a boom of thunder. "Gah!" I shouted as I banged my head against the cabinet behind me, a.k.a. my headboard. Slowly stepping onto the slick wooden floor, rubbing my hand against the sore spot, I walked onto the rug funny and slipped.

"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" I screamed as my body fell against the floor.

Gaara drowsily moaned and sat up, rubbing a bit of crust from his eyes. "What are you doing?" he mumbled. "I only fell asleep an hour ago."

Of course. My insomniac brother cares more about sleep than me. Brilliant.

"The thunder woke me up," I said plainly from the floor. I stared up at the dark ceiling. "Shit," Gaara said.

Not only was it pouring, it was thundering and lightning.

I hate walking to school.

"DAMN IT, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Temari stormed into our room, a sleepy TenTen in tow, and turned the lights on.

I squealed and rolled over, protecting my eyes from the blinding ceiling light. "Turn it off, turn it off!" I pleaded.

Gaara moaned as he fell into his pillow. "Let me go back to sleep!"

"What were you two doing?" Temari asked.

From his pillow, Gaara raised his hand parallel to the floor and pointed to me. "Ask Kankuro."

I said again, "The thunder woke me up."

TenTen groaned and told Temari, "Oh God Mari, you woke me up for this? It's 3:00 AM!" She turned and headed back to her room.

Temari glanced at me before following her friend and roommate. "By the way Kuro," she said. "Put a shirt on."

My face heated up. "Oh yeah? Well...I'm taller than you!" I lamely made up an excuse.

A book hit me in the back of the head.

"Go to sleep Kankuro."

* * *

I yawned as I painted on my eyeliner. I had done it earlier, but it had washed off in the rain. The damned rain, that's what it was.

Rikku happily sunk into her seat next to me. "What's got you so perky?" I asked as I drew the final curve around my right eye.

I saw her smile out of the corner of my eye and she said, "Man, I love rain!"

Capping my eyeliner, I turned my attention to her and gave Rikku a funny look. She smiled wider and her eyes crinkled.

"Attention class! I want your attention!" Tamashi-sensei called out.

Leaning on his desk, he began what I knew to be his speech-giving stance. "Today we will start our first project of the semester. It will involve famous paintings, their artists, research--."

He was interrupted my multiple groans.

"And! Your take on the paintings. I will assign you each partners, and a remarkable piece of art. From there, you will research the artist and recreate the painting using both of your special techniques."

I blinked. So he was saying that I got a partner, a painting, gave him the artist's bio, and my buddy and I re-painted the painting by our standards.

Cool.

"Now, you may Free Draw until I call you and your partner's names, and then you will report up to my desk. Understood?"

Many 'yeses' echoed off of the room's tiled floor.

Of course, I was the last to be called. And, of course, my partner was...

* * *

"So," Rikku said, laying her hands on the lunch table. "We have to do 'Starry Night'? That shouldn't be too hard."

I rested my chin on my hand to stare at her better. "You do research, I paint. Simple as that."

Rikku made a protesting noise that reminded me of Lee whenever I made fun of him. "That's not fair! I wanna paint too!"

I smirked. "Well we can't always get what we want, now can we?"

Her icy eyes glazed over with fierceness.

"Exactly. You research Van Gogh, I paint." This girl could be very stubborn sometimes. But then again, so could I. "No, I paint; you research Van Go-screw-you."

"Why can'tboth of you paint and research?"

Lee set his tray down and, helping Kumiko set hers down as well, sat in a chair opposite me.

Rikku shrugged, her low black pigtails shining with the movement.

"I...guess..." I said hesitantly. "Great! We've finally agreed on something. Research first?" Rikku's anger had suddenly fled and was replaced by joy. "Sure, why not," I lazily added. She smiled again.

Oh God, when she smiled like that, the muscles in her cheeks bunched up underneath her eyes. It made me feel like an annoying aunt who always grabbed your cheek and twisted your face as she cooed, because I wanted to do just that!

A thought suddenly popped into my head.

"Hey Rikku?" I asked. She cocked her head slightly. "What?"

"Do you have a sister?"

Rikku's face immediately fell and she bit her lip. "Well...um...yeah, but..."

I nodded. "Oh. My sister Temari said that she hated this new cheerleader from Taki who's name was Takahashi Amaya, but I wasn't sure if she was related to you or not."

Rikku noticeably brightened up. "Oh, yeah, my older sister Amaya's a cheerleader, but I had no idea that someone already hated her!" she gushed.

"Hey, we need some place to study," I told Rikku, jerking her out of her rant.

She looked at me and suggested, "We could study at my house."

I shrugged and gave her a small smile. "That works for me."

* * *

_Hello everyone! Well, I have five reviews that I need to give credit for, because I love you all so very much!_

**Phoenix of Blackfire:** YAY! You were the first reviewer, and I love you for that! Oh yeah, your name is pretty familiar. Which story did you read? LoL, Yu Yu Hakusho isn't quite cutting it for me right now. A lot of the stories suck! I'm very happy to hear that you like my writing! Who doesn't love a compliment?

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut:** Holy crap that's an awesome name! Hm, glad to know you fell for it hook, line, and sinker! Yeah, a lot of people tell me that my stories can be very original, and I like that!

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut #2:** LoL, you're not dumb. Just ignorant. LoL, I'm kidding! So anyways, you kick ass at reviews!

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut #3:** You're just as addicted to this story as Gaara is to his drugs, which you don't like so much! LoL, just kidding. Glad to hear that I have a nice flow. I didn't really think of flowing when I wrote, I just though it would be more realistic. GO ME! Yes, everyone cheer for me because TheFutureFreaksMeOut can hear voices in her head that sound very much like Kankuro! Yayness for your reviews!

**Kay:** That's such a cool name, you know? Kay. Kay. Ooh gosh, I could say Kay all day long. Heeheeheehee! Ahem. Sorry about that! It's wonderfully written? HOORAY! I LOVE YOU!

_So for the polls, Gaara is winning by a mile!_

_1st place: Gaara- 2 ½ votes_

_2nd place: Itachi- ½ vote_

_3rd place: Everyone else- 0 votes_

_Please review! If you do, I will give you my hand baked virtual cookies!_


	5. Pikiru

After school, I milled about, searching for Rikku. She had to be here somewhere amidst the mass of students and umbrellas...

A clammy hand grabbed onto my wrist, and I gave a slight jump from beneath my black hoodie.

"Hey Kankuro! I've been looking everywhere for you."

I turned, and there was the girl I had been searching for; soaked to the bone and smiling wider than I had ever seen her before.

"My sister is going to give us a ride to my house because my mom will kill her if I get pneumonia," she said.

Her dark hair was matted to her head, and so was her uniform. I silently followed after her until we reached the senior parking lot. "That's my sister, over there." She pointed at a bright red Mazda.

"Oh, so she got a good car, and you have to go buy one on your own, right?" I asked, trying to fill in some humor.

Rikku ran her tongue across her upper lip to remove some of the rain. "Hey Kankuro, I need to warn you about something."

I gave her a curious glance. "Warn me? About what?"

She glanced uneasily at the ground, staring at her foot as she traced it in circles.

"Um...my family is very...high maintenance. So please...do your best to not get them...scared of you."

Rikku didn't mention anything else on the subject as she walked down to the car. "Hi Maya," she said softly. I immediately knew why.

Rikku and Amaya may have been sisters, but they didn't look a thing alike.

Amaya looked exactly how I would picture a beach model. She had highlighted, platinum blonde hair that was layered and tapered, and her eyes were a bright turquoise. Her back-from-the-beach tan eliminated any chance of freckles, and she was shockingly...my height. How could she be 6' 0"?

I climbed into the backseat after Rikku as a disgusted glance from Amaya passed over me. "Are you sure that's your partner? He looks a little freakish." Of course. Her voice was even preppy.

Rikku glared at her sister. "Why should you care? It's not like you need another boy in your life." I smirked slightly. Temari had already been ranting that her ex-boyfriend had started dating the Takahashi bitch.

But I had to agree with Temari on this one, this girl was a complete and total bitch.

Amaya drove out of the parking lot and headed to the north side of town. The rich side. I think one of my sister's ex-boyfriends used to live there. Was his name...Itaka? I couldn't remember.

"God, this damn rain doesn't quit!" Amaya complained, peering out through the foggy window.

Rikku piped up, "I like the rain."

"You're weird. Rain sucks."

"No it doesn't! It feeds the basis of life as we know it!"

"You nerd."

"You prep."

"You dork."

"You whore."

"You loser!"

"You slut!"

I watched as the words flew, each getting more offensive than the last.

"You dyke."

Rikku gasped. "I'm not a lesbian you...you...you poser!"

Amaya nearly slammed onto the brakes as she turned around to face her younger sister. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she said, "Don't you ever call me a poser."

Rikku shrugged and looked out of her small window.

* * *

Soon after having to ride in the awkward silence, we pulled up the driveway to a particularly nice house. I admired it as I stepped out of the Mazda.

Amaya must have thought I was planning to vandalize their house or something, because she told me, "I'll know it was you if we get teepeed."

Rikku led me in and closed the door behind her. "Yeah, whatever Maya," she said. "MOM! I'm home!"

A slightly middle-aged woman came out of what I presumed to be the kitchen.

"Oh, hello sweetie! Who's...er...who's your friend?"

Rikku linked arms with me and said, "This is Sabaku Kankuro. He's my art partner, and my new best friend!"

Her mother, who looked more like Amaya than Rikku, gave me an uneasy smile as she wiped her hand on her floral apron. "Well Sabaku, it's...er...it's very nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine," I replied smoothly, grinning.

"Oh well, bye Mom! We have to go research!" Rikku fled up a set of stairs, dragging me in tow. She laughed as I fell awkwardly on the last step. "Come on Kankuro, get up! You need to meet Pikiru."

I followed her into a room, my mouth hanging open in awe.

It wasn't as big as I had imagined it, but it still looked incredible. The walls were painted purple, and a queen-sized bed had been placed against a wall that had another door, presumably the closet. Another wall had a large vanity table placed on it that looked like it had been rarely used, and the last wall housed an enormous window overlooking the street. A large tree was planted in front of the window, and the purple drapes were open to reveal the spattering rain.

"Hang out here for just a second, I have to go change," Rikku said.

I sat down on the bed and practically sunk in. It was a lot more comfortable than my cot at KOYH!

Just as I closed my eyes and sighed, my face was attacked by a flying furball. "Holy mother of God!" I said as I sat up, trying to peel it off. But the thing had attached itself to my hat, and as I managed to rip it off, my hat came with it.

"Hey, give that back!"

The thing and I both looked up. Rikku had come back into the room, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a large black t-shirt. "Pikiru, that's no way to treat a guest!"

My attacker was only a small black cat with bright gold eyes, although its paws were white. Oh no. That was...my makeup!

Picking up the frenzied feline, Rikku sat next to me and gently pried my hat from Pikiru's mouth. She glanced up at me and blushed. Man oh man, this was not good!

"My makeup's gone, isn't it?" I asked miserably.

"Yeah, it is. But what were you trying to hide?" she asked me as she smoothed out my hair.

I shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."

Rikku smiled. "Well, one day you should keep yourself like this. It looks better," she murmured as she stood and walked out of the room. I blinked as I followed her, trying to swallow what she had just told me.

* * *

"Hey Gaara?" I asked, lying on my bed.

My sadistic sibling looked over towards me. "Huh?" he smartly replied from his paper. "First of all, do I look better with out my makeup?"

The immediate reply was "Yes."

I cringed and continued. "Second of all, why are YOU doing HOMEWORK?"

"Uh...no reason."

"Ooh, I bet there's a girl involved!" Temari had suddenly appeared in our doorway. "There is not!" Gaara shouted at her, a light tint of pink popping out from his pale skin. I gasped and gave a surprised smile. "Gaara likes someone!"

"And I know who it is!" Naruto squealed as he skipped past our room. I scrambled up to chase him, Temari having the same idea. Gaara ran after us to stop Naruto.

"Who is it? Who is it?" I shouted after him.

"Tell us!" Temari shrieked excitedly.

"Don't tell them ANYTHING!" Gaara screamed.

Naruto laughed hysterically as he noticed all of the Sabaku Siblings were chasing him. "So who is it?" TenTen has casually appeared in front of Naruto, tripping him, and watching us all fall on top of him.

"All right! All right, I'll tell you!" Naruto cried. "Just get off of me!"

We all sat in Naruto and Lee's room, which was quite similar to Gaara and mine's.

"Gaara, care to do the honors?" Naruto asked, offering it to his friend.

Gaara moaned and muttered. "I don't have a choice...Well...um, there's this girl in my homeroom, and she...uh...she and Hinata both have to tutor Naruto and I. Um..."

"And she's really hot!" Naruto added. Gaara shot a glare to him. "Yeah, she's really pretty, and um...her name's Kohaku."

TenTen and Temari both squealed as they went to congratulate Gaara, and I sighed, closing my eyes and lying down on the floor.

Gaara wasn't the only one who was getting a crush.

* * *

_Hooray! 3 reviews! _

**Phoenix of Blackfire:** Oh yeah, A Jewel's Beauty and Damn It All to Hell. GO HALF POINTS! Do you want sugar of chocolate chip?

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut:** It's not weird. I think rain is one of the most wonderful things our planet has to offer! Huh, so your name's from a band...Cool! LoL, blabbering is fabulous! No need to apologize. And I have officially made a puzzle from words. But the puzzle is not complete! You have to read to the end of the story! Hooray! I get a chocolate chip cookie! Here's a sugar one. I hope I get more fabulousity from you in the next review!

**Kay:** I LOVE YOU FOREVER! (Yes, Gaara is winning. But only three people have submitted anything...And thus I begin to pout.) Oh well. Glad to know I'm the first! Here's your cookie!

_And for the poll, it's the same as the last chapter. Sadly...Nothing has changed..._

_Oh well. Please review!_


	6. Secrets

I moaned. The past two weeks had been nearly unbearable for me!

We were well into September now, and today was Friday.

Naruto had wanted to have what he called a 'party', (I had asked him 'Who in their right mind would come to one of YOUR parties?', and then Temari hit me on the head. If you ask me, she was just happy that she had an excuse not to go.) and he had finally decided on tonight.

Gaara had been acting very skittish, especially if you crept right up behind him and whispered, "Kohaku." He would jump about a foot in the air! It was so hilarious, until he started stalking me. Then it was creepy.

As for Rikku, that was what had made things horrible.

She now had a habit of hugging me when she saw me. Although this was an ultimate plus on my part, it made me unsure of whether she liked me or if she only viewed me as a friend.

I sighed as my face fell into my pile of new homework.

Imagining Rikku's cool fingers against my forehead as they had been not too long ago, I relaxed enough to stare down at my papers.

Naruto, Gaara, and four boys I didn't recognize flitted past my door. Sophomores and their stupid parties...

"Hey Kuro, are you done with that geography paper yet?" I heard TenTen call.

I yelled, "No! Go ask Lee!"

TenTen's bunned head poked into my room with a grin. "You're still not done? We were going to go teepeeing! What's wrong? You've been like this for weeks!"

My eyes lazily drifted to the floor. "I don't know," I said with a sigh. "I'm just..."

"...In love?" she finished for me.

I stared up at her in shock. "H-how did you know?" I sputtered.

She gave me a kind smile.

"It's a girl thing. I can recognize love when I see it." TenTen sat down next to me, folding her legs underneath herself. "And you know, you were the same way when we were dating," she said thoughtfully.

"Ooooooooooh! Kuro and Tenny are having a touchy moment!"

TenTen and I both looked up to see Naruto, Lee, Gaara, Suzuki, Kumiko, the four boys, and four unfamiliar girls, peeking into my room, their heads all lined up like targets.

My friend and I glanced at each other and laughed. "Whew...that's funny! Me and TenTen...? What next? Gaara and Lee? What kind of pairings are going through your head?"

TenTen laughed even harder and fell over.

"Well, Tenny and I are going teepeeing, who wants to come?"

* * *

"What are you, my freaking mother?"

"No, but apparently I'm the next damn closest thing!"

"It doesn't matter where I was..."

"Oh yes it does! Since when have you been damn invited to parties?"

"Since when has Naruto had parties?"

"That doesn't matter! You could do something you would really regret later!"

"Like what? Have a few drinks?"

"I knew it! You're drunk!"

"Who gives a damn? Everyone else was too!"

I listened very carefully to TenTen and Temari's fight, shocked. They NEVER had fights. EVER. And now wasn't a good time to begin.

"JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

"FINE! It won't be my fault if you get pregnant!"

"Wasn't planning on it!"

The two scoffed and turned their heels on each other, walking in separate directions. Temari headed to the kitchens and TenTen to my room. I cringed as the door banged open.

Her face was deadly.

"Hey Tenny...what's wrong?" I gingerly asked.

She stomped over to my bed and sat down on the edge.

"It's your sister! She's getting mad at me for every little thing I do! I'm just...worried about her..." she added softly.

Smiling weakly, I said, "Can I try to cheer you up?"

TenTen shrugged.

"Ok," I said, letting out a deep breath. "I'm going to tell you who I like. And you have to promise not to tell ANYONE!"

She turned to me, her interest peaked. "I promise..." she whispered.

"Um..." I leaned in and put my mouth up to her ear.

"It's Rikku."

"I KNEW IT!" TenTen shrieked happily. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" She began dancing around, chanting the 'I knew it' song.

After she had managed to calm down, TenTen whispered solemnly, "I have a secret for you too."

My eyes widened excitedly.

Her stoic face staring at the ground, she said, "There's also a reason Temari's mad at me. Please promise you won't be!" Her face was just as pleading as her voice.

I nodded slowly, not knowing what to expect.

"I think I'm in love with Neji again."

I gasped, keeling over backwards. "No!"

It was a scandal!

Only two weeks before, she had been cussing him out behind his back, glaring at the sight of him, shuddering when he was mentioned, and cursing his very name! What had come over her? I wondered.

"I knew you'd be mad at me..." she murmured sadly.

I shook my head. "I'm not really mad, just sorta...shocked."

TenTen's face was so happy; it looked like she would burst.

An uncomfortable thought crossed my mind. "Have you told Lee yet?"

"No, I haven't. You know how fragile he is! I'm afraid he'd have a heart attack. So can we keep this from him?"

I nodded, but I still doubted her. Not telling Lee was probably very wise or incredibly stupid.

* * *

"Now class, please remember that the project will be due by Friday, so don't rush! I will be grading on quality, not quantity."

I rolled my eyes as Rikku sketched out part of out painting on the canvas, her hair falling from her high ponytail.

"What do you think?" Rikku asked me.

I leaned over to her desk.

The picture showed a large sky being covered up by growing skyscrapers. Only the moon could be seen above the metal giants, and I saw no stars.

"Wow...that's...that's great!" I said happily.

She blushed and glanced at the ground, murmuring her thanks.

I opened a bottle of paint and squirted it onto my pad of paper. As we began to dip our brushes in and spread them across the canvas, Rikku asked me, "So Kankuro, what's your family like?"

I bit my lip in thought, continuing my work.

"Hm, it's hard to say. I have a really big family. I have an older sister Temari, I don't think you've met her, and then there's little Gaara. You know him, right? And if you count them as family, I would say that Naruto, Lee, and TenTen are my siblings too."

"What about your parents?"

That shocked me. I honestly didn't know what to say. What was I supposed to tell her? That I never knew them? That they died a while ago? I had gotten tired of being told, 'I'm sorry' by people who had nothing to do with it.

She must have noticed my awkward silence and still movement.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. I was about to wince, but she continued. "For bringing it up. I heard Hyuuga talking about it in one of my classes, but I didn't think it was true. You just...don't seem like the type of person to be an orphan."

Rikku laughed to herself. "Sorry for the prejudice, but I always envisioned orphans as a type of Annie person. You know, always looking on the bright side of things, wearing run-down clothes, having the dog buddy."

I chuckled. "No one's ever looked at it that way before!"

"You know..." she added on sadly. "Sometimes I wish I didn't have parents."

I stopped my laughing and looked up at her. "Why?" I asked.

"Well...my parents...they don't understand me. They've always expected me to be happy and perfect at everything I do, just like them. My mom was a cheerleader and my dad was the football star. It just seems natural that they are rich without trying, and that their kids are happy, perfect, and rich without trying too. But that life isn't for me. I don't want to be another clone..." her voice trailed off.

"So what do you like to do? You know, the stuff that they frown upon."

Rikku smiled weakly at me, her crinkles only briefly appearing. "Well, I like art, but you knew that, right?"

I nodded and looked down at the canvas. "And you're good at it," I encouraged.

She leaned over and pressed her forehead against my shoulder.

"I also do ballet."

I felt my eyes widen in both shock and happiness.

Why did Rikku's appeal to me just keep on rising and rising?

"Show me."

"Alright then, I will." She had looked up again and, wearing a very TenTenish pout, pressed her paint stained finger against the tip of my made up nose.

"But you'll have to come over to my house for me to show you."

* * *

_Wow! I have 13 reviews! I am so happy! In addition to my 3 originals, (Phoenix, Future, and Kay), we now have Bloone and Denisetheanimelover on board! Hooray! _

**Bloone:** Wow, my story's believable? Thanks! Kudos to ya for the review! Well I'm glad you liked my originality. I think it's kind of boring to have to expect the same thing again and again.

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut:** Ohmigosh, that's the longest review you've ever given me! I love you! LoL, rantings are beatimous! LoL. My best friend is Gaara-obsessed too! That's so cool that you have a plushie! I want one! That's not fair...Oh well. Pretty princess clip! Heeheehee! I can just see that now...I think you have just given me beautiful inspiration. Hooray for you! You're a shonen-ai fan? Weird. I'm not really into stuff like that, but I shall respect your opinion with great intensimosity. (I nod my head wisely.) LoL, you don't use the word cute too much! I use the word hooray too much! LoL. (And you must notice I laugh a lot. This fic can get kinda dark, but I'm a very humored person. VERY.) KYAH! KANKY-CHAN! That's such an adorable nickname! I was gonna call him Kuro, but Kanky just might do it! (Here I squeal like a girl must. This is what I call my girly moment, especially when I wiggle my fingers with my other friend Ellie.) So yeah, I think this is long enough for you. Have another cookie!

**Phoenix of Blackfire:** LoL, I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic at heart. It's in my nature to be romantic! And not morbid romances either. No, no, no. I have to have happy endings! Otherwise it just seems...wrong. LoL. Why not both sugar and chocolate chip?

**Denisetheanimelover:** OMG, it's your first review? KYAH! I love you so much! This is such a blessing! You have no idea how much better that makes me feel, hearing that this is a very well-written story. You like Gaara? Just about all of my other reviewers do too. Personally, I like TenTen, Kankuro, Kiba, and Akamaru the best. But that's just me.

**Kay:** And last but most certainly not least, Kay! Hooray! (We happily spaz together.) If you didn't notice, (or just haven't checked on my profile page.) my name begins with 'K' too! It's (not Katherine!) Kat! Wow, only one letter apart! LoL. Hm, I don't think I'm going to make her a blonde. I have a thing for brunettes. (But you know, in summer especially, I get very blonde highlights from being out in the sun.) Since I can't wow both of our true blonde-ness, I congratulate our K-ness! HOORAY!

_Please remember to review and vote for your character in the poll! _


	7. In the Moonlight

I fumbled my way into the north side of town, crossing my arms and pulling my thick hoodie across my body tighter as I tried to remember the way to the Takahashi house in the dark.

My thick, loose shoes thumped noisily against the well kept sidewalk.

A few people who were out walking their dogs or going for a late night jog hardly noticed me; or else they completely ignored the tall, lanky, run down boy who was scuffling along.

Only now could I sense the fast-approaching cold.

The moon shone above me like a great white diamond, and only now could I see a few stars sprinkled out and glittering across the wide, midnight velvet sky. This is what Rikku should have drawn. Such a beautiful, full moon night...

But that would have been too cliché. And from what I had heard earlier, Rikku didn't want to be like everything else in the world. She wanted a certain...uniqueness.

And I had to say she had achieved it on the canvas.

It showed things for what they really were, and how that could be a bad thing. But it was the truth, and it was original.

It was beautiful.

I began to wonder what I was doing there, lost in the dark on the other side of Konoha. It was actually quite a stupid thing to do, when I thought about it. She could already be in bed for that matter. She could be asleep. Her parents might not let me see her. There were a lot of things I had not planned on.

Slowly, I began to recognize my surroundings, and I spotted the tree. The large tree that was planted in front of Rikku's window. And as far as I could tell, hers was the only room that had light in the house.

But how would I get to her without her parents noticing...

The tree.

I could climb the tree! It was brilliant! I could do that!

I brought my hand against the rough bark and pulled myself up, limb after limb after limb. I comfortably sat myself in a large branch that had a perfect view of Rikku's room. (Ok, I know that's also called 'peeping tommery', but I was a desperate man!)

She had her hair in a high bun, her bangs falling into her face gracefully. A lamp had been lit dimly, and she was stroking that little menace Pikiru, who was curled up in a ball, sleeping.

Rikku was wearing a white camisole, black ankle tights, and a pair of blue boxers. Dancer attire.

She had been waiting for me!

Clearing my throat, I reached out a hand and knocked on the glass. Rikku's head shot up to look at me, as did Pikiru's. Her shocked and fearful face instantly turned to joy.

Rikku stepped off of her bed in an elegant way that reminded me of a spider.

She unhitched her window and pushed open the door-resembling glass. Leaning her elbows on the sill, Rikku rested her head on her wrists with a smile.

"Took you long enough," she said teasingly.

I gave her a coy grin as I relaxed on my branch. "Thought I'd play hard-to-get," was my reply. She laughed quietly.

Rikku's quirky, innocent smile made my heart flutter within its cage. If someone had been staring at us from a profile view, we would have very much looked like Romeo and Juliet.

I'm sure she could have heard my nervous heartbeat when she held out her arms for a hug.

We both leaned in and wrapped each other's arms around one another. For me, it was a little awkward, but that was alright. Her chin had found a very happy spot on my shoulder.

"Well now, I'd better give you what you came for!"

I scooted out a ways as she clambered sneakily out of her window and landed next to me. "Well, come one Kankuro! It's already 10:00!" she whispered excitedly to me.

I smirked at her. "What? Little Green Leaf has a bedtime?"

With narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows, Rikku told me, "I do have a nickname other than Little Green Leaf, you know."

I raised my eyebrows in slight curiosity. "Please enlighten me, Little Green Leaf."

"Ri."

Rikku pushed her body off of the branch and slid down the tree with great ease, saying the name like a fresh breath of air.

I stared down at her from high above.

She had landed quite catlike, crouching over her body, before she stood up and lifted her shin to look back up at me with a child-like smile. "Come on Kankuro!" she said, her hand reaching out to me.

Instead of just jumping without fear of injury like Rikku had, I carefully stepped from the high branches that had led me up. "I...have...a...nick...name...too..." I said with each movement. "It's...Kuro."

When I felt a safe distance from the ground, I hopped off.

She led me to the curb to sit down, whereas she went out to the middle of the evenly paved road. And, almost magically, as if some music that only the two of us could hear, she began to dance.

It was slow and small at first. Little steps, flicks of her leg and wrist, and only tiny jumps evolved into her body exerting itself to its max with high, flexible leaps, broad spreads of her legs, and very slow, painstaking moves.

All I could do was sit in awe, my mouth hanging open.

Although she was nowhere near what I had seen from the professional ballerinas on TV, she was good. VERY good.

Rikku slowed only for a moment, when she took a position that led to a long series of turns that reminded me of a top, especially when her spins led to her making a circle as she turned.

Her hair began to fall from the bun and into a regular ponytail as her head whipped around with her moves. I found it quite...sexy.

She lowered herself into the splits, head held high, and she gracefully brushed her hand against her leg, leading the rest of her upper body to lie flat against her front leg.

Rikku lay there for a moment, seeming to take all of it in. From the cold glow of the moon, I could see sweat glistening all across her-I might almost call it petite-figure.

And then she popped up like a smiling Jack-In-The-Box, smiling as she wiped up the moisture that had gathered on her face.

"Was it any good?" she asked me nervously, shyly coming to sit next to me on the curb.

I, of course, was still stupidly awestruck, my mouth hanging open like a goldfish, and my eyes as wide as eggs. "Hello? Kuro, are you in there?" she asked me.

I blinked and came out of the dancing trance.

"Wha...? Oh, yeah. I'm fine..."

I tried to think of what word to use as Rikku stared at me hopefully with her bright, excited, crystallized-blue eyes. What word could describe to her how I thought of her dance without expressing my true emotions? My mind was at a complete blank.

Her joyful face, which I had grown quite attached to, faded into one of disappointment.

"You didn't like it, did you?" she asked me sadly.

I looked down at her with a shocked expression. "What are you talking about? I loved it!" I blurted out.

Immediately, my face reddened visibly without my makeup. I should NOT have said that out loud. A thousand thoughts began to run through my head, all imagining different things.

But I needn't have worried. Rikku squealed with happiness. "Really? You liked it? Yay!"

I smiled warmly as my heart rate lowered.

Laughing mentally, I thought about my friends' reactions to the way I was acting now. They would have thought I was absolutely insane or, in Naruto's imagination, that I had been brainwashed by zombies.

They would have never expected me to be here right now.

Rikku shivered next to me. "It's cold out now, isn't it?" she wondered aloud. I looked down at the zipper on my hoodie. Hm...

With a quick motion, I pulled the zipper down and pulled Rikku inside and, closing the jacket around us, heard her giggle.

"What's this for?" she asked. I shrugged as she glanced up at my face. "You said you were cold. Now you're not."

Rikku giggled again as she snuggled closer to me, leaning her soft head against my chest.

"Tonight would have been a horrible night to see the sky," she murmured to me.

I rested my chin on the top of her head and asked, "Why is that?" even when I already knew the answer. She giggled as she felt my vocal chords working against her.

"Because...it's too perfect, just like Van Gogh's painting. A full moon, a clear sky, and lots of stars...It doesn't seem real."

"But maybe it is..." I added. "When people love each other...things always seem perfect for them. Maybe this is just a little something Mother Nature would want to give to those staring up at the sky tonight, just to make things a little more peaceful, or soothing, or romantic..." I trailed off uncomfortably.

Rikku's answer didn't come instantly. "You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" she asked quietly.

I whispered, "Yeah, I have."

We sat in silence for a moment, listening to the far away sounds of downtown.

"I moved here for a special reason," she whispered sleepily.

"Oh? What's that, Ri?" I asked, suddenly curious.

She let out a small yawn and nuzzled closer to me. "It's because of me," she mumbled. "I didn't have any friends at Taki. They thought I was weird for speaking my mind, and doing strange things, and cutting myself."

My drooping head jerked up. She had...cut herself?

"Yeah, I used to suffer depression. Up until I met you. And then things changed. I got happier...People understood me better. I made friends. But you were my first. And you're my best friend. My parents don't like that though.

"They think you're strange, and that you'll be a bad influence on me. They think that you might become a murderer. But I don't care...I've always felt...something...a little...special...with you..."

She mumbled off into her sleep.

I gingerly unzipped my jacket and took her out, picking her up 'bridal-style'. She weighed a lot more than she looked!

But I managed to climb up the tree with all of our body parts attached (I hoped) and carried her through the window. I set her down on her bed and glanced down at her one last time.

It hurt me to think that this God-given angel had been through so much. She was such a sweet and happy person on the outside, but why was she so tormented within? It just didn't make sense.

Gently, I kissed her pale forehead before I left and closed the window.

I left the window unlocked.


	8. Special: Promises

The weeks flew past me after Rikku had fallen asleep in my arms.

She and I had become even closer as friends, and I found myself even more attached to her. And as hard as I searched, I never saw any scars on her. Had she lied about her depression?

As for Gaara, I had constantly seen him saving up money, doing homework, and having the girl Kohaku over. (And even though he didn't know it, I had taken a peek at their 'private moments'.)

Temari and TenTen had been fighting even more than before. Their fights were becoming a bit too consistent for my liking, and Temari had been disappearing to go to parties. More often than not, she brought a guy back home with her.

TenTen spoke higher of Neji now, and I had seen them working together a lot as well. It scared me to think that they might have...FEELINGS for each other.

Lee's crush on TenTen had somewhat evaporated as he started dating Kumiko, the prettier twin. And, to all of our appalls, he had stopped gelling his hair up and left it in the most hideous bowl cut ever.

His eyebrows had gotten very thick, and people made even more fun of him. But I knew where his inspiration came from. One of our teachers, Gai-sensei, had taken an almost fatherly liking to Lee. I had too admit, this relationship with someone was good for him.

Naruto had not changed at all, thankfully. He still adored Ramen, still hated some kid named Sasuke, still was incredibly stupid, and still sniffed crack and Pixy Stix. I was glad that he was the same.

But, even if all around me things were changing, I knew that I was changing too. I was wearing my makeup less and less, and though I still wore my hat, my hair usually peeked through. I wasn't cursing as much either. Maybe Rikku had caused this. I didn't hear her saying 'dammit' with every other sentence.

This change was a good thing, though.

I hoped.

* * *

It was already the beginning of October, and we were all discussing our Halloween costumes, when Naruto gave us very important news.

"Did you hear?" he asked us with great intensity. "The school is going to put one-way mirrors on the doors."

Lee, Gaara, TenTen, Kumiko, Suzuki, and I all gave him faces of confusion, while Rikku gasped and put a hand to her mouth.

"They wouldn't, would they?" she asked him, awed.

Naruto sighed and set his tray down. "They are! The school board thinks that when students go to the bathroom, they hang out around the halls!"

"Can someone PLEASE tell me what a one-way mirror is?" I interrupted impatiently.

"Well, it's a mirror, obviously," Rikku began. "On one side, you see your reflection, and on the other, you can see through it, like a window. If you go up close enough, you can see through the mirror, but from a regular distance you can't."

I blinked. "And this is bad how?" TenTen asked for me.

Rikku lay her head on the table in somewhat defeat. "It means that teachers would be able to see kids loitering in the halls, but kids wouldn't be able to tell if teachers were watching or not."

Kumiko turned her head to look down at the ground, her expression sad. Lee rubbed her back comfortingly.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

Nobody said anything for a minute. They all seemed uncomfortable.

"Kumi doesn't like mirrors..." Suzuki said gently. "She doesn't like the mention of anything to do with sight."

I shrugged. "So?"

"You didn't know? She's..."

"I'm blind."

Kumiko had taken off her sunglasses and was staring in my direction. Her milky-white eyes were unfocused.

I sat there in awkward silence for a moment. She was...blind? No wonder such a pretty girl as herself was dating Lee, especially the way he looked now. Why hadn't I noticed it before? Every day she wore sunglasses, and every day Suzuki led Kumiko's hand. Maybe...I was the one who was blind...

Rikku then asked, "So Naruto, what's your costume? That is...if you do go trick-or-treating still."

Naruto laughed. "I am going to be God!" he said with enthusiasm.

We all couldn't help but laugh a little bit as he broke up the tension with his silly lightheartedness.

I glanced at Rikku, who was on the border of hysterical laughter, with thanks. For a brief moment, she smiled in my direction.

"Yes, I shall be God," Naruto said solemnly. "And my first Almighty duty is...Gaara! I command you to give me your cookie!" He pointed fiercely at my little brother.

Gaara looked up for a moment, and then went back to his food. "Do I look like Noah to you?"

None of us could resist the temptation to laugh this time. I noticed TenTen staring at another table. I glanced over in that direction, and was not surprised.

Hyuuga Neji was eating lunch with his younger cousin Hinata.

Although her hair and eyes had a more violet quality than her cousin's, Hinata and Neji could have very well been brother and sister. But their personalities absolutely cancel each other out. While Neji is popular, good-looking, and always has a stick up his ass, Hinata is very unpopular, and though she is quite cute, and always stutters when she speaks. But her unpopularity might come from something else. Also sitting with Hinata was her two freaky friends Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino.

Kiba was probably the most normal out of the two. He was very loud, so loud that he rivaled Naruto and tall, something that he beat Naruto in by a mile. The only thing wrong with him was his dog fetish. I am dead serious; this kid took his dog Akamaru everywhere.

I will be honest with you; Shino is weirder than I am. He wears a trenchcoat outside of school, and inside he adds extensions to his collar so that it flips up over his mouth. He always wears creepy sunglasses (is he blind?) and once or twice I've seen a few bugs crawling out of his clothes. It kind of scares me.

While TenTen was secretly adoring Neji, I saw that two certain someones were glancing over at our table as well. Hinata, I knew, loved Naruto. She was a very sweet and shy person, and didn't judge on appearance or rumors. She would be the perfect girlfriend for him if he ever noticed as anything more than a friend.

But what surprised me was Shino. Who was he looking at? I couldn't quite tell...Never mind. I figured it out. I suddenly felt a deep pity for Suzuki.

"And I want you all to come!"

I looked back to my friends. "Huh?" I asked.

Rikku giggled and said, "Oh Kanky, weren't you listening? I want all of you guys to come over to my house on Halloween! We can all hang out and watch scary movies and go get candy and stuff. My parents won't be there," she added in a seductive tone, waggling her eyebrows. I laughed.

"That seems to suit these two just fine," Suzuki said, pointing to her sister and Lee, who were currently making out.

"I know what I'm going to be," Gaara said quietly. I looked up at him and stared at his strawberry blonde hair. "What? A football player?"

Gaara glared at me steadily. "That was a long time ago. This year, I'm going to be a vampire." Naruto butted into our conversation. "Tonight I'm dying his hair black!"

So that's what he had been saving up money for.

Falling onto the table with a sigh, Naruto said, "If I did have Almighty Powers, I would make Sakura fall in love with me. But like that's ever going to happen..."

Almost immediately, a pink-haired girl known as Haruno Sakura bumped Suzuki out of her seat and sat down next to Naruto. "Can you believe it? Sasuke is going out with INO!" she cried, mainly to herself. "There's only one way to make up for this," she said. "Naruto, kiss me!"

Our mouths all dropped open, including Naruto's.

"It worked..." he murmured. "It actually worked!" Sakura rolled her eyes and said, "Do I have to do everything myself?"

She practically pounced on him and they began making out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hinata stand up and run to the bathroom. Suzuki, who was glaring at Sakura from the dirty cafeteria floor, noticed this as well, and called, "Hinata! Hinata wait, come back!"

She stood up and chased after the shy Hyuuga.

Neji had kept on eating, while Kiba was noticeably angry for his poor friend, while Shino was clenching and unclenching his fists. He had two things to be mad at Sakura for: Hinata and Suzuki.

Sakura sat up and wiped her mouth. "Thanks Naruto," she said as if nothing had happened, and she stood up and left to the popular side of the room.

Naruto, on the other hand, blinked slowly, his mouth still moving like a goldfish.

When he noticed Rikku glaring at him, her icy blue eyes so much fiercer and angrier than I had ever seen them, he finally regained a somewhat consciousness and asked, "What?"

Rikku scoffed and rolled her eyes, standing up to go get Suzuki and Hinata from the girl's bathroom.

"Look what you did, little Naru," I said, shaking my head. "One thing you should know is that you never kiss another girl, especially if the one who loves you is right there."

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

* * *

I was walking with Rikku after school, and she was excitedly talking about how everyone promised to come over, and that she would finally prove something to her sister.

Smiling slightly, I said, "I promise I'll be there."

She giggled excitedly and found a grip on my hand, her eyes glowing with hopefulness. "Really? You PROMISE promise?"

My smile widened as her crinkles appeared with her grin. "Promise promise."

"Kankuro."

"Rikku."

We both looked in opposite directions as our older sisters pulled us away from one another. Amaya's spider-like fingers wrapped themselves around Rikku's shoulders, while Temari gripped onto my upper right arm.

Glancing from me to Temari, Amaya narrowed her eyes. "Ri, you never mentioned that your boyfriend was related to Sabaku."

I could feel Temari's absolutely enraged glare going through my head. "You're going out with her?" she cried.

"We aren't dating," Rikku murmured, blushing madly and avoiding my gaze.

I nodded in agreement.

Temari let out a deep, controlled breath and said, "Well Takahashi, isn't this ironic?" Amaya nodded, glaring at Rikku and I. "Maybe a little too ironic," she spat venomously as she led Rikku away.

Glancing back at me, Rikku had hurt, apologetic eyes as she waved goodbye. I brought my hand up in casual recognition, but I felt just as hurt as Rikku had looked.

"How come you never told me you were hanging out with a mini Takahashi bitch?" Temari asked me coldly.

Temari had triggered something. It wasn't a good thing.

"I don't want to see that bitch hanging off of you again! She's just as bitchy as her sister--."

And suddenly, I snapped.

"Rikku's not the bitch!" I shouted at her. "You are!"

Immediately I regretted my actions, but that didn't stop me from storming off towards KOYH. Gaara and Naruto ran to catch up with me. "You are so dead..." Naruto said in a low voice. I shrugged it off angrily.

"I don't care," I replied. "Let her kill me in her sleep. It won't matter. She can't say things like that about Rikku!"

"You know that you can't stop Temari from being herself, and you also know that you can't protect Rikku from her. Temari will find a way to hurt her," Gaara told me quietly.

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked down at him. "Not this time she won't."

* * *

_You PROMISE promise? _

I was sitting up in my bed, leaning against the cabinet behind me. Wrapped in blankets, I had been thinking about all that had happened in such a short amount of time.

_Kankuro. _

I had been assigned to give out the candy for the orphanage this year, and I had yelled like crazy to our manager.

_Rikku._

There had been nothing he could do.

_You never mentioned your boyfriend was related to Sabaku. _

Although the job started at six, I could stop at nine. That would be good. I could still go over to Rikku's house, and still have enough time to just hang out before her parents came home.

_We aren't dating..._

What had happened to me?

_Isn't this ironic?_

It hadn't been that long since I had met Rikku, and I was so different than how I used to be. If Temari had said something like she had earlier, I would have laughed and tried to come up with some witty remark that would make Naruto smile.

_Maybe a little too ironic._

And then I would have cussed her out. A lot.

_How come you never told me? _

What had happened to my toilet-papering, spray-painting, rule-breaking, car-egging, teenage delinquent days? What had I become? Who had done this to me?

_A mini Takahashi bitch..._

No. Not a Takahashi bitch. Rikku. She had done it to me. But, now that I thought about it, she was HELPING me.

_That bitch hanging off of you..._

Eventually, I had been bound to get caught. And the consequences would have been worse than the things I had done.

_Just as bitchy as her sister..._

Rikku wasn't a bad girl. If she had met me only weeks earlier, she and I would have never even talked. Back then, I had liked bad girls. Tattoos. Piercings. Cigarettes. Rikku hadn't even touched that type of thing.

_Rikku's not a bitch! _

She wasn't a bitch. She was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time! And Temari just... didn't see that. I couldn't blame her. She had already gotten mad at TenTen for changing. Why should her own little brother be different?

_You are!_

Because this was for her own enjoyment. Temari didn't want the possibility of Rikku dating me because it would scar her name and reputation of hating the Taki Takahashi bitch.

_You are so dead..._

TenTen was Temari's best friend. I was just her little brother. Temari didn't want TenTen to change because without TenTen, she was alone.

_I don't care!_

People hated Temari because she was a bitch. TenTen could see past that though; had seen past it ever since we came.

_She can't say things like that about Rikku!_

Rikku had never said ANYTHING bad about my family. Temari didn't even know AMAYA, so why should she be so mean to Rikku?

_You can't stop Temari from being herself..._

Gaara was right about that. Temari judged people from everything except the person. That was just the way she did things.

_You can't protect Rikku from her._

Temari would do something horrible to Rikku.

_Temari will find a way to hurt her._

Of course. She had hurt every other cheerleader and every other nerd and every other pretty boy. Why should Rikku be different? Temari would find a way to emotionally scar Rikku. And that would be easy. Rikku had suffered depression.

_Not this time she won't. _

Temari may find a way to hurt Rikku, but she wouldn't be able to do it. I wouldn't let her hurt my angel.

_Promise promise. _

* * *

_Ok guys, that was a long chapter! I had to make it long though, because I won't be able to update for a week. So please understand if I take a long time to update the next one! And wow, 20 reviews? I love you!_

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut:** Hi! (waves dramatically as well) LoL, this review had to be completely random, but that's ok! I love randomness. It proves you like to talk about other things than just my story! Props for the long review!

**TheFutureFreaksMeOut 2:** You don't know what to say? I'm speechless too! Hooray!

**Denisetheanimelover:** WOW! I LOVE YOUR REVIEW SO MUCH! It was so...full of energy!

**Kristin:** Welcome to the 'I love Snowie's story!' club! So glad you could join. I have fantabulously wonderful chapters? You read them all? HOORAY! Hearing that my story is good makes me incredibly happy too! Hm, what else to say about your review? I like to dance around happily too! (dances like crazy) See, I'm a dancer like Rikku, so I just had to put a little bit of that in it! And as all of my reviewers have said so, you aren't insane and you don't ramble! Well, you might, but rambling is good!

**Phoenix of Blackfire:** You made me smile with your review! It's nice to know that I don't overdo things. CHOCOLATE CHIP FOR YOU!

**Payday:** Another new 'I love Snowie's story!' club member! Yay, I adore your review! (Very fabulous name by the way.) REALLY? My favorite character is TenTen! HOORAY! (does weird victory dance.)

**Kay:** I always know who the last reviewer is going to be, and its YOU! Although I do enjoy uber-long reviews like Future's short and sweet reviews like yours are even better! I don't have to answer as much! LoL.

_As for the polls..._

_1.) Gaara: 3 ½_

_2.) TenTen: 1_

_2.) Neji: 1_

_3.) Itachi: ½_

_4.) Everyone else!_

_Please review and I will update as soon as possible! (That means it will be more than a week, because I am going to be in Illinois and I still have to write the next chapter.)_

_I love you!_


	9. Special: Halloween

The crisp night air was filled with the bittersweet scent of candy, hair spray, makeup, over exhausted house lights, and sweat. What other night could it be? My favorite.

It was Halloween.

A group of kids ran up to the porch. There was a princess, a knight, a ghost, a Power Ranger, a fairy, a cat, and a Superman. They all had their candy bags full and ready to get heavier.

On the porch, a lifeless puppet sat on a chair in front of the doorbell. His head was bent over, almost inviting the greedy hands to indulge themselves in the full bowl of assorted chocolates, gum, and Skittles. The strings that would have moved him were as still as the puppet.

"Wait!" called the Superman in a heroic voice. "I'll go first!"

"That's not fair!" the princess cried. "Yeah!" the cat agreed. "Ladies first!"

The ghost shook its head. "No," the muffled voice murmured. "We're boys, and boys are better."

The Power Ranger, nodding in agreement, made a grab for the candy, but the princess stopped him.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

The fairy, who was staring at the puppet as her friends bickered, reached out to touch the puppet's face. "Why can't he go trick-or-treating? Why does he have to stay here?"

The puppet's head slowly rose, making all of the children freeze. Its smile spread across its face, very similar to the Cheshire Cat's. "Because Geppeto told me to," it said, its eyes widening.

All of the children screamed at the top of their lungs and ran for dear life.

I laughed hysterically, straining my fishing pole strings as I pulled out a Tootsie Roll and unwrapped it. "This is too easy!" I said, slipping it into my mouth.

Naruto poked his head out from the front door of KOYH. "My dear puppet," he asked solemnly. "Are you ready for your journey to the north side?" I laughed harder and nodded.

He came out, wearing a large brown robe, having a hood shade his face. On his chest was a sticker that read 'Hello my name is: God'.

Turning, Naruto called, "Are you coming, Gaara?"

"No."

"Oh come on, it's not that bad!" Naruto replied.

I looked up as I pulled my strings to pop them from the ceiling and reattach them to wooden planks.

"Yes it is."

"Kohaku will be there."

"..." Gaara followed Naruto out reluctantly.

You see, that night when Naruto had said he was going to dye Gaara's hair black, he...well...made a mistake. He accidentally used the red dye that Gaara wanted to use on his clothes...well...on his hair.

And he used so much that it was permanent.

So this year, instead of being a vampire, he was a leprechaun!

It was a very simple costume. He had on a green shirt, baggy blue jean pants, bright green skater shoes, and a white and green trucker hat that sported a four-leaf clover. He was also adorned in Irish buttons.

Taking a swig from the beer in his hand, Gaara mumbled, "But this looks stupid...dammit..."

All I could do was laugh.

* * *

On the way to Rikku's house, our trio picked up Lee, Kumiko, Suzuki, and TenTen.

Suzuki had pretty much attacked Lee to make him pretty. Plucking his eyebrows, styling his hair, spreading out his eyelashes, and making him squint, I had to admit she did a pretty good job in making him a boy band singer.

Kumiko look hot. She was his groupie, and she played the part very well. With a bikini top, hip hugger jeans, large sunglasses, and henna tattoos that read: 'I love Rock Lee.' They were quite the funny pair.

Suzuki was a Skittle, but she didn't have the big body suit. Instead, she had a bright blue shirt with a white 'S' on it. Her pants were striped, having all of the colors of the rainbow on them. In addition to all of the colors, she wore lots of necklaces, rings, bracelets, anklets, buttons, and even a mouthpiece that blinked many different colors.

TenTen was a pirate. What else can I say? As long as she had pointy weapons, any costume was good by her.

The seven of us, led by me, headed to Rikku's home.

"Wow, this is so damn rich!" TenTen exclaimed as she looked around.

In this neighborhood, the kids that ran around had very fancy costumes, and the parents that followed them kept on taking pictures. I glanced at Lee, who stared longingly at a little boy who ran over to his father, squealing about his candy. The father picked his son up and spun him around.

Lee turned to me and frowned.

I bit my lip.

He had been the one who had been hurt the most by parents' nights and parental affection, because he had actually known them. His parents died when he was nine years old, and sometimes I could still hear him crying at night. Lee really did miss them.

"Here we are!" I proudly pointed to the house with the tree, a new enthusiasm in my voice.

But the house was different.

Most of its neighboring houses had fake cobwebs, large spiders, scattered leaves, witches, vampires, tombstones, zombies, and mummies.

Rikku's house was a circus.

Cotton candy was strung everywhere, faded lights illuminated everything, flags flapped in the wind, and creepy circus music played from hidden speakers.

All of ours mouths dropped open, except for Kumiko's. She just held on to Lee's hand tighter.

As we walked up to the porch, I noted that it was decorated quite similarly to KOYH's. A chair had been placed in front of the doorbell, and a doll had been set down in it. (Well, I wasn't counted as a doll, but I was pretty close.)

The doll was a clown, with high black and purple pigtails. Her white face was marred with black lipstick, a black star on one cheek, and, quite prettily, had a black heart drawn around one eye. From the tip of the heart, a tear was falling. The clown's piercing, glassy blue eyes looked real, as did the teeth in her smile.

Wearing a purple tank top, a ruffled black mini skirt, black and purple striped tights, and black combat boots, I guessed that this was no ordinary circus.

It was an evil one.

Naruto reached around the doll and rang the doorbell. A cannon sounded off, and Kumiko's hands immediately went to her ears. Of course. Her hearing was better than ours.

The door opened, and a sexy schoolgirl stood there to greet us.

"Hey there," she whispered huskily, leaning on the door frame. "Welcome to Rikku's Circus, how may I help you?"

"Hinata!" Suzuki cried, racing to hug her friend.

Whoa. I would have NEVER guessed that was Hinata. She had gotten extensions to her hair, and just, her confidence looked higher than Hinata's ever could be. What had happened to her stutter? This was freaky...

"Oh, it's you all." Hinata smiled slyly and said, "Come on in."

As we all shuffled in, I turned back for a second to look at the clown.

Its features were very human-like, and I almost felt bad for the doll, just like the little fairy had for me. I caressed her cheek softly, admiring how realistic and beautiful the craftsmanship was. But, I had to say, something was fishy about it.

"Hey Hyuuga, who made this doll?" I asked.

Hinata looked up at me and smiled coyly. "Why, funny you should ask. Rikku made her up. Quite talented, isn't she?" I nodded slowly, concentrating on the doll.

Its smile was familiar. Its eyes were familiar too. The smile and eyes...

The crinkles.

"Got you, didn't we?" the clown asked, turning her head in almost a full circle to me and clamping her hand onto my wrist.

I let out a scream of surprise ("WHAT THE HELL!"), and Rikku laughed giddily. Hinata giggled. Still holding onto my wrist, Rikku led me in.

The inside was just as circusy as the outside. Stripes were painted all over, cobwebs were strung in various corners, fading, yellow lights had replaced the new, high definition ones that her parents had regularly furnished, and--Neji?

Hinata sat down next to her cousin, who looked like he would have rather not been there. TenTen appeared just as shocked as I was.

Other than our large group, Kohaku, (a vampiress) Shino, (trenchcoat freak) and Kiba (a werewolf) were there. Personally, I had no idea that Rikku even knew Shino and Kiba. But apparently, she had just as much fun with sophomores as she did with juniors.

Smiling widely, Rikku picked up a small, fuzzy, black lion that nearly looked like it wanted to maul her, just like that tiger did to that Las Vegas magician. I laughed at the miniscule feline. It was Pikiru.

"Hey Ri, nice freak show!" I said.

Gaara, who was sitting next to Kohaku, immediately butted into our conversation. "Glad you enjoy it. You're part of the opening act."

A few of the others chuckled slightly, and I faked a laugh at him. "That's so funny Gaara! In fact, it's so hilarious, I'm gonna blow up!"

A bomb sounded off, and smoke filled the room. We all coughed and waved our hands in front of our faces.

"What was that?" Suzuki asked, her brilliant lights flashing.

As the smog cleared, Rikku had a small black ball (other than Pikiru) in her hand. "What? You didn't want to blow up?" she asked confusedly.

I rolled my eyes as Naruto and Kiba shot to examine the sound emitter. "That's so awesome!" Naruto cried.

"Yeah!" Kiba agreed, his fake fangs clashing against his real ones. "We could put it by a teacher's chair, and then set it off! Haha, this is better than a whoopie cushion!"

Rikku giggled hysterically as she collapsed onto a couch next to me.

"That would be a good idea," she started. "But I would never think of doing it. Just imagine how embarrassing that would be! I would never want someone to do that to me."

I had been right. She was an ultimate good-girl.

* * *

After we had gone raiding peoples houses for candy, Rikku introduced us to American games such as Truth or Dare and Spin the Bottle.

"Truth or Dare," she explained. "Is a game where we all sit in a circle."

All of us stood up and gathered on the floor in the best sphere we could manage. The order was as follows: Me, Gaara, Kohaku, Suzuki, Hinata, Neji, TenTen, Rikku, Kiba, Suzuki, Kumiko, Lee, and Shino.

"And I say...Naruto! Truth or Dare? And then you say either truth or dare."

"Truth," Naruto said uncertainly.

Rikku smiled. "And then I ask you a question, which you must answer truthfully. Hm...Are you addicted to crack?"

He glanced nervously at Gaara, who was drinking his beer and clutching Kohaku's wrist tightly.

"Uh...yes."

Rikku's eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth as she, and all of the rest of us, (except Neji), began to laugh. "No wonder," she murmured.

"Now," Rikku instructed him. "You randomly ask anyone the same question, Truth or Dare?" Her eyes, intensified by the make-up, just dared him to ask her.

"Rikku! Truth or Dare?"

Giggling, Rikku said, "Truth."

"Alright then..." Naruto put a hand under his shadowed face. "Have you ever disobeyed your parents? Like SERIOUSLY disobeyed them?"

I just knew that the answer would be a no.

"Yes, I have!"

Even a drunk Gaara was shocked to hear her answer. "What have you done?" Naruto asked.

With a smug smile, Rikku shook her head. "Only one question per Truth or Dare!" I was disappointed. What had she done? She didn't SMOKE, did she?

We continued along, telling very foolish things that we had done in our past, until TenTen turned the tables.

Rikku's brightened smile turned to TenTen. "Hey Tenny, Truth or Dare?"

"Uh...I'll do Dare."

"Ok. I dare you and Shino to go upstairs and pretend to make out by my sister's door. Just be hidden, and you HAVE to make the noises."

TenTen's mouth dropped open in horror and disgust. "I-I can't do that!" she sputtered. Rikku's smile widened. "Would you rather go skinny-dipping with Rock Lee watching you?" she asked innocently.

In indignation, TenTen grabbed Shino's wrist and pulled him upstairs, muttering curses under her breath as she went. I was sure Shino would have rather it be Suzuki.

I looked at Suzuki. She was giggling slightly, but also sneaking a few glances at the wolf-whistling werewolf Kiba.

Thump. Thump.

Instead of TenTen thundering down the stairs, Rikku's sister Amaya appeared, and very angrily.

"Rikku! I-Wait a minute! Who are you people?"

Amaya was wearing a very skimpy, furry outfit with long bunny ears on top of her head. Rikku raised a painted eyebrow.

"I do have friends you know. Why can't I have them over?" she asked.

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Number one," she retorted. "Because they're all FREAKS. Number two, because they make out really loudly!" She nodded to Lee and Kumiko as an example.

For a flickering moment, I thought I saw Rikku glance at the floor with hurt, but maybe I just saw things. She grinned and said, "How would you know? It's not like you've made out with anyone yourself."

"Yes I have! But you're one to talk. You haven't either!"

"I have TOO!"

"I'd like to know with whom. Kankuro? Did you lick all of his ugly makeup off his face, moaning and groaning with every inch of pleasure?"

Everyone went silent to watch the unfolding cat fight.

I narrowed my eyes. First, I didn't like to be brought into girl fights, and second, she had hit Rikku very narrowly below the belt.

With the faintest whisper of a smile, Rikku stood up to face her tall sister.

"Maybe I have." Naruto's attention shot to me, his eyes wide. "Isn't that right, Kanky?"

Rikku had looked back at me, smiling cutely and giggling. I smirked and wiggled my eyebrows. "Hell yeah!"

Amaya turned on her heel in disgust, scoffing at our group as we all erupted into laughter.

"Yes Kanky, let me give you hickies all over your face!" Rikku had mock-whispered as she sat in front of me and threw her head back. I stifled my chuckles and said, "Little Green Leaf, I'm afraid there is something I need to tell you before we advance."

Rikku's head popped back up. "But Kanky! You don't stop sex when you're IN THE MOMENT! It's just...not right!"

I nodded with 'sorrow' as I pursed my lips together. "Yes, I know, I know. It's just that you should know that I'm--!"

I was interrupted as TenTen stormed down the stairs. "That's it! I've done my dare!" She stopped as she saw Rikku leaning right up next to me, her legs split slightly and her hands resting on my shoulders.

"Whoa, what did I miss?"

Quickly scrambling off of me, Rikku smiled as if nothing had happened.

"I think it's time we moved onto our next game."

* * *

"Spin the Bottle is a very fun and sometimes unnerving game. We have this bottle," she held up an empty soda bottle. "And place it in the middle of us. Then, I spin the bottle, and whoever it lands on, I have to..."

We all leaned in to hear what she was going to say.

"Kiss."

My mind practically exploded. Kiss? Like, as in, KISS KISS? What...what if Rikku landed on me? I could kiss her! But...if I spun it...and it landed on-

"What happens if I spin it on a guy?" Naruto asked.

Rikku's sly smile appeared. "Then you have to kiss him. And if I land on a girl, then I have to kiss her."

Ew. Now that's just wrong. For girls, it would be kinda kinky to see them have at each other, but for guys, I repeat, that's just wrong.

With a quick flick of her wrist, Rikku spun the bottle. I silently and internally prayed that it would be me. Me. Me. MEMEMEMEMEME!

It landed on Shino, who was sitting right next to me.

I could have died.

And it really did feel like that as she grinned at Shino and scooted over to him. "Pucker up buddy," she whispered.

It seemed like an eternity as brought her black mouth up to his and closed her painted eyes. Shino seemed in shock, as if he would be saying 'What the hell?'

Her eyelashes fluttered as she opened her eyes and backed away. A little bit of black had rubbed off of her mouth and onto his.

Sitting comfortably back in her spot, Rikku said, "Guys you have to understand that in America, this game means nothing. There is no love relation involved, that is, unless you get to kiss the person of your dreams."

Her beautiful sapphire eyes flitted to me for a moment.

"Spin Shino."

Shino spun, and it landed on TenTen. Theirs was much briefer than Rikku's. TenTen spun on Neji, whom she only kissed on the cheek. Neji's landed on Hinata.

We were all cracking up as they both leaned into each other reluctantly, until their lips met for not even a second.

Hinata landed on Naruto. She was blushing like a tomato the whole time. Naruto spun, and it landed on Gaara. We laughed harder.

Gaara, who was well beyond drunk, didn't seem to grasp what was going on. He kept on mumbling incoherent things and puckering his lips like a fish.

Gaara got Kohaku, and Kohaku had Shino. Shino got Kumiko. Kumiko spun onto Lee, and Lee landed on Suzuki. (Layer, I heard Lee murmuring about something like "They really are identical twins.")

Suzuki got Kiba. I could only imagine how heartbroken Shino must have felt. I mean, to have the girl of your most vivid fantasies kiss your best friend! Absolutely horrible!

Kiba got Rikku, and he made a joke about how his dog and her cat were going to end up being gay and molesting each other, to which Rikku replied by slapping him and scooping up Pikiru. I sniggered under my breath. At least I didn't have to worry about Rikku pulling a Suzuki.

I held my breath as Rikku spun the bottle. It wobbled slightly as it went around, pointing at TenTen, Neji, Hinata, Suzuki, (it began to slow down), Kohaku...Gaara...Me.

It landed on me.

OH MY GOD!

My face broke out in a grin as Naruto said, "Well, this is a wonderful pairing. Two freaks of nature go so well together." Rikku glared at him as she walked over to me. "Sorry if I get makeup on your face," she murmured. "Same here," I replied.

Right as our lips were about to meet, Rikku's eyes shot open and she jerked her head back. "Uh-oh..." she said. I strained my ears. The rumble of a garage door caught my attention.

Her parents were home.

Quickly scrambling up, she told all of us to get back on the couches, as she put away the bottle and clicked a remote, so that a T.V. blinked on to show the middle of a horror movie.

She landed right next to me as her parents walked in.

They were dresses quite formally, especially for Halloween, and they threw Rikku a questioning glance as they walked in.

"Hello Rikku dear," Mrs. Takahashi said as she kissed Rikku's white forehead.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad," was Rikku's reply with an almost forced smile.

Her father was looking around with a bit of shock. "Good lord Rikku," he said. "What did you do to the house?"

Giggling, Rikku peeked over the couch. "Don't you like it Daddy? I did it myself."

I noticed that Mr. Takahashi was about to say something, but his wife gave him a look to hush him up.

Our group turned back to the movie.

It was nearing midnight as Rikku walked with our group to go home. Lee had left with Kumiko and Suzuki to escort them back to their house, and Kohaku had gone with Kiba and Shino because she lived near the two. Neji had a car, so he got to drive home with Hinata.

TenTen and I were supporting a very drunk Gaara; so drunk that he couldn't even walk. "You guys live so far away," Rikku commented. "Why didn't you just tell me? I could have gotten Amaya to come pick you up."

I shrugged. "We didn't want to load the trouble on you," I offered for the four of us.

Rikku smiled slightly, but I could tell she was uncomfortable with the subject. She obviously felt self-conscious about our different financial and parental status.

I shifted my weight so that I could hold Gaara up with one arm as I reached out my other to touch the side of her face.

She looked at me with large blue eyes and I smiled comfortingly.

Rikku must have felt horrible as we reached the steps of KOYH. The sidewalk had long-since been cracked and encroached by weeds. I shuffled over a wilting dandelion, scraping across the stem to pull off the remaining petals.

The surrounding buildings were just as bad. There was graffiti everywhere, and cars had broken windows, missing parts, rust, or peeling paint.

"Well, here we are," TenTen murmured as she tromped up the steps, holding onto Gaara as if he were a dead body. Naruto followed her, and they both glanced back at me and Rikku.

"Don't worry guys," I said. "I'm just gonna walk her home." They nodded their approval and went inside.

As we walked back, Rikku was unnervingly quiet. I glanced at her every now and then.

"Hey Little Green Leaf, what's wrong?" I asked jokingly.

She looked up at me and shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just don't want to go home just yet."

"Well then..." I slightly trailed off. "Where do you want to go?"

For the first time on the walk to and fro did she smile. The crinkle appeared at the bottom of her eyes, making the heart shrink and the star become the highlight of the left side of her face.

"There's a playground over there," she pointed to a deserted set of swings, a slide, a turning wheel, a jungle gym, and lots and lots of sand.

Kicking off her shoes, Rikku ran in her purple and black striped stockings to the swings. "Come on Kankuro!" she called.

I walked calmly to the swing next to her. She was standing in hers, propelling her body to move the swing. Her skirt swayed with the breeze and force of momentum.

"I'm sorry for what my sister said earlier," Rikku apologized after a bit of silence. I turned to face her, sliding my right leg to the other side as I would on a horse.

"Is that what you're so hung up about?" I asked.

She slowed and looked at me. "I guess," she replied. "I mean, how weird is it to have your sister to accuse you of having sex with your best friend?"

My mind wandered to Temari telling me off for popping Lee's cherry, and I was wearing his underwear. EW.

I shuddered and said, "Damn weird."

She nodded with a little giggle and sat down in my same position.

"Did you see the way Kiba was looking at Suzuki?" Rikku asked.

My attention peaked, I shook my head. "What are you talking about? It was Suzuki that was all hung up on Kiba."

"Really?" She giggled excitedly. "They'll probably be this huge thing on Monday."

I partially smiled. Gossip wasn't my favorite thing.

The creaking of the swings was the only sound for a while. I noticed that Rikku was in a deep sleep of contemplation.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked.

She blinked; as if brought out of a trance, and sighed. "Do you have a special person in your life?"

Whoa. What a question to ask.

"What do you mean? I have Gaara, and Temari, and TenTen, and Lee..."

She smiled sadly as she shook her head. "Not like that Kankuro. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Before I could stop the thought, I whispered, "I have you."

It only seemed natural that her eyes slowly looked into mine, and we both leaned towards each other, and our eyes closed, and we kissed.

WE KISSED!

It was very subtle at first, a hardly-there, fresh-as-air kiss. Her lips were very soft, and she almost seemed shy. Just as shy as the day I had met her. In actuality, we really were meeting each other for the first time. Except it was a kiss instead of hello.

Rikku drew back suddenly and blushed so hard that I could see it through her makeup. Her hand flew to her mouth.

"Y-you...like me?" she asked.

I glanced down at the ground with shame. "Yeah," I murmured.

"I liked you the day I met you."

My head whipped up to look at her. She was smiling slightly.

"Yeah, I have. I was so excited when you started talking to me. You seemed like such a self-confident person, and I thought that was incredible."

I touched my cheek gently.

"But what about the makeup? Everyone thinks it looks horrible."

Her smile widened and cocked her head. "Who cares what everyone thinks? I thought it was fantastic."

I leaned over and pressed my forehead against hers.

"I liked you for a long time," I said. "You were always so beautiful."

She blushed again, but not as badly this time.

"So you really think I'm your girlfriend?"

"Do you want to be?"

"Of course."

* * *

_WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! I only got five reviews in two weeks! Are you CRAZY? I still love you. Just why aren't you reviewing? KAY? WHERE ARE YOU? _

Payday: Yes! Let's cheer Kankuro on to victory!

TheFutureFreaksMeOut: LoL. I cannot WAIT until your next RANDOM review. I seem to like those better from you.

Denisetheanimelover: AWWWWWWW! I love you! I am totally basking in the glow of your comments right now.

_Orga: Wow, am I a mind reader or what? _

_Orga2: Hm...Akamaru? LoL, just kidding. I love Kankuro too. _

_So, for polls. There's a new runner!_

_1.) Gaara: 3 ½ _

_2.) Neji: 1_

_2.) TenTen: 1_

_2.) Kankuro: 1_

_3.) Itachi: ½ _

_Um, yeah. Please review! It's almost my birthday. A good review is a perfect present for me!_


	10. Cramps

I had never really realized what it was like to have a girlfriend. I mean, with TenTen, we didn't have to call each other every other five minutes. We didn't even call each other. All we had to do was go to each other's rooms. But with Rikku, I wasn't exactly sure what to do.

It was Sunday, November 1, the day after Halloween. I didn't know if I should call her. I didn't know if I should go see her. Would she be mad? Would she feel violated? Or would she be overjoyed? All of this stuff confused the shit out of me.

"Kankuro?"

I looked up from my hands. I hadn't even noticed that I was daydreaming.

Lee was standing in the doorway of my room, trying to brush his hair into its normal bowl cut. He was still in his large white over shirt and long green plaid pants.

"Kuro? Are you okay?"

I gave him a confused glance as I motioned for him to sit across from me.

"What are you talking about Lee? I feel fine."

Lee sighed, almost sadly. "You seem kind of out of it today," he said after a pause. "In fact, you've been...not yourself...for a while."

I grinned slightly.

Even if people didn't think it, Lee noticed EVERYTHING. He wasn't as naïve as he put on.

"It's nothing really Lee. But...I do have to ask you something. When you and Kumiko started dating, what did you do the day after you asked her to be your girlfriend?"

Lee's puzzled expression lifted and was replaced by a smug and knowing smile.

"You're dating Rikku, aren't you Kankuro?"

I shoved my pillow at him.

"You know too much!" I complained.

Lee chuckled and smiled sincerely.

He patted my shoulder, his eyes shining with a brightness that I would never forget, and said, "It's just something that you'll have to figure out for yourself. It'll come."

* * *

I felt like I was in labor as I walked to school the next day. My stomach muscles were contracting, and I felt hot and cold at the same time. This is how I got when I was nervous.

TenTen tried to stifle a giggle as she passed in front of me, heading into school first.

Oh ha ha.

Let's all laugh at Kankuro.

I was following Rikku's advice from a long time ago to not wear my makeup to school. Urgh, I felt so naked! (But of course, my cat-eared black beanie was a must.)

Gaara tugged on the curling strawberry blonde ends peeking out in a skaterish way as my pace quickened on the concrete stairs to the entrance doors. I felt like hurling.

"You'll be ok," he said in his haunting voice.

Wow. Gaara had just…complimented me.

I wanted to shoot into the bathroom and pull out Temari's eyeliner, but Lee clamped his hand on my wrist.

CRAAAAAP!

"Don't have a cow," he whispered.

TenTen giggled as she slid up next to me.

"You and Rikku are soooo cute together!" she squealed.

Once a girl, always a girl.

The three of us sat down at our usual table. Temari had gone to break up with her previous boyfriend, Naruto and Gaara were sniffing something behind some bushes outside, Suzuki had called to tell Lee that Kumiko was sick, Neji was hanging out with his friends; therefore Hinata had to sit with him, Kiba had cross-country practice, and Shino had gone to go watch him.

The Winsome Threesome of KOYH was together again!

"So…" I said, trying to talk out my jitters. "Who wants to bet how long it'll take for stores to publicize Christmas?"

* * *

Goosebumps speckled my skin as I walked into art.

Rikku was sitting in her desk, completely focused on drawing something.

She had let her hair down with a deep side part today and pinned her bangs out of her face with bobby pins.

I let out a deep breath.

This was it.

Here I go.

Chills ran down my back as I sat down in my seat. Rikku looked up. I froze.

"Hi Kuro!" she said happily, her cheeks swelling from a smile.

I muttered weakly, "Hey Ri…"

She pulled me into a small hug. "Why aren't you wearing your makeup?" she asked.

Shrugging, I bit my lip. "Who knows?" I replied. Rikku laughed her giggly laugh and sighed. "You are such a nerd."

My eyes went wide. Oh no! What did this mean?

She tugged at my ears lightly before sticking her tongue out a little. "Just kidding!" she told me.

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

Rikku laughed again and inquired, "What? Were you nervous about seeing me?"

I nodded.

She smiled and pulled me into another hug. "Oh, you are such a sweetie, Kankuro! What's there to be nervous about?"

"Everything."

Before she could reply, the teacher spoke out the instructions of the day to the class. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, as most of you are still worn out from your little…escapades Saturday night, I'll let you have a free day today. But keep the noise level down or we'll have to go to no talking!" he warned us.

I watched him go to his desk and take an Advil. He was probably hung over.

I told this to Rikku and she snorted on accident, which made her giggle harder.

It made me laugh too.

Then I snorted.

(When the bell rang for second period, Rikku kissed my cheek and complimented me on my huge step of self esteem forward. She said I looked good. As she left, I collapsed from happiness and fell on a freshman.)

* * *

Surprisingly, all of the nervous tension I felt when I was with Rikku had turned into something many artists know either as an SOTM (spur of the moment) or as creative inspiration during the rest of my classes. Even at lunch, I was busy at work drawing the puppet, (my arm shielding the masterpiece from view), not bothering to eat. Rikku knew enough about art to chew out anyone who disturbed me.

I could tell that she wanted to know as badly as the others did though.

"Come on Kankuro!" Naruto begged me from across the table. Rikku threw her plastic fork at his head and giggled, making a large effort to high-five Suzuki from across the table.

TenTen was deep in thought. "What's wrong TenTen?" Lee asked with brotherly concern. She sighed.

"Do you guys realize that this semester is almost over?"

Everyone looked at her.

"So?" Gaara wondered over the importance of her statement.

Before she could say anything, the vice-principal whom I hated so much walked briskly up to our lunch table. "Sabaku Kankuro and Gaara?" he asked.

I stared up at him, confusedly, and raised my hand. Gaara did the same.

"What is it?" I asked.

He sighed with…_pity_? "You need to come with me."

Gaara smartly asked, "Why?"

"It's about your sister."


	11. My Apologies

_**My Apologies: A Letter from Moonsnow Neko**_

Dear Valued Readers,

I am sorry to say that my writing skills are not as extravagant as they used to be and many ideas I had for this story have disappeared into the abyss of my mind.

I will not be continuing Paint Him the Color of Death.

But, as I know how heartbreaking it is to read a good story but never know the ending, I can give important bits of info.

_Temari was messing around with a college freshman named Kabuto at a few parties she went to. She becomes pregnant. _

_Kankuro begins to work on the puppet and tells Rikku of his plans, who agrees to keep it a secret. _

_Kankuro works hard on his puppet. One day, he stays after school in the art room because he needs to carve the wood. As he is doing this, he looks through the one-sided mirror that Naruto mentioned earlier in the story and sees TenTen making out with Neji. They do not know he is doing this. He tells Temari and she is furious. (Temari and TenTen then get into a fight.)_

_When Temari and Amaya, Rikku's sister, learn of Kankuro and Rikku's status as a couple, both become enraged. They are both so mad that they team up to try and sabotage their younger sibling's relationship._

_The next week, Kankuro is working on his puppet again. Amaya, Rikku's sister, had to stay after for cheerleading practice. She peers into the one-sided mirror and sees Kankuro working on a puppet. Amaya rushes to tell Temari. _

_That Monday, Temari publicly announces that Kankuro is making a puppet and proceeds to tease him. Many others do the same. When Kankuro confronts his sister on the matter, she says the Takahashi bitch told her. _

_Kankuro assumes the worst. He yells at Rikku and slaps her._

_Rikku flees, unable to comprehend what she did wrong. She states that she never wants to see him again._

_Over the next few days, Rikku is absent. Kankuro says he doesn't care, continuing to complain and criticize her. Lee comes to her defense and asks, "Do you REALLY believe that she told Temari?" _

_Kankuro finally comes to his senses and realizes that Rikku is innocent. That night, he travels to her house. The window is locked. It starts to rain. He bangs on the window and Rikku tells him to go away. He apologizes and after a conversation, Rikku finally forgives him. _

_After Temari and Amaya figure out that their attempts have been thwarted, they apologize and call it a truce. _

_Naruto FINALLY figures out that Hinata likes him._

_After everything seems to have calmed down, time passes. In April, Gaara is sent to intensive care. He overdosed on drugs. This is where Kankuro meets Gaara's love interest (as I know many of you are interested), Kohaku. She has mousy brown hair and green eyes and is very concerned about Gaara's condition. Kankuro likes her right away and approves of his little brother's choice. _

_Gaara doesn't die, but has to go through rehab. He says he's sorry for all the things that he's done, and ends up with Kohaku. They later get married with five children. _

_At the very end of the story, Temari has a baby girl named Ai, who has silver hair and green eyes. TenTen is declared the godmother._

_Everyone is at peace, people are in love, and they're all just living life. _

_Oh yeah…Rikku defied her parents by getting a tattoo of a star on her left shoulder blade._

Again, forgive me everyone! I just couldn't continue with this story.

_**Moonsnow Neko**_


End file.
